


One night

by NBvagabond



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, Cuddle Pile, Episode 68 Spoilers, Gen, cr bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NBvagabond/pseuds/NBvagabond
Summary: As everyone’s breathing began to grow steady, she slowly moved her arm, until it was pressing gently against Percy’s chest, feeling for the steady beat of his heart.“Don’t leave me again?” she asked, not even sure if he was still awake to hear it. EP 68 SPOILERSMore cuddle piles for vox machina + polymachina? yes pls





	

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the crit role reverse bang! Inspired by @meglm's wonderful piece that you can find at the end <3

Percy was alive. He was alive and awake and in pain but his heart was beating again. Pike - all of them - had saved him. The only reason Vex didn't pull him into her arms and hold him tight was that his injuries were still quite severe. Instead, she leaned over and kissed his forehead, casting a spell to help his wounds close over properly.  
“Hey, handsome,” Vax said, running a hand through Percy’s hair.  
“Oh good,” Percy wheezed, “I’m not dead,”  
Keyleth choked back a sob, rushing forward to hug Percy. “You were, though,” she said into his shirt.  
Percy stroked her hair comfortingly. “But I’m not now. You brought me back.” He sat up slowly, and she leaned off him so he could look in her eyes. “Thank you.”  
The door opened suddenly and Cassandra hurried into the room, eyes wide with alarm. When she saw him, sitting up - albeit being supported by Grog - she visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief.  
“Percy,” she made his way to his side, “you’re okay.”  
“I’m fine, Cassandra,” he squeezed her hand, smiling reassuringly. She didn’t look convinced, of course. Percy wasn’t ‘fine’, but he was alive.  
“Thank you,” Cassandra said to Pike with a sad sort of smile, before hugging Percy and leaving.  
Percy let out a shaky breath when she left, leaning back into Grog’s chest. “Did you kill her?” he asked quietly after a moment's silence.  
“Yeah,” Vex rested a hand on his shoulder, “now there’s a big damn tree coming out of her stomach on that creepy island,”  
Percy smiled, then winced. “I’m glad,” he said, rubbing the bruise on his jaw. “I’m also fucking exhausted,”  
A small giggle spread through the group, the first time any of them had laughed since arriving at Glintshore.  
“Yeah, you should probably get some rest, buddy,” Scanlan spoke up, “but, before that? Drinks?”  
Percy smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

Percy alternated between the three half elves for support, leaning on their shoulders until they got sore. They wouldn’t say anything, of course, but when Percy noticed them getting uncomfortable he would shift until he was next to another one. No one wanted to let him out of their sight, it seemed, which he supposed was fair. He had felt the same after Pike, and Grog, and Vex had all returned from their own brief visits of the Astral Plane.  
He passed on the opportunity to have more of the alcohol they got from Marquet, but he thoroughly enjoyed watching Pike try some, and falling flat on her face.  
He was sitting with Vex, watching her brother stack plates on Pike’s back, when she leaned her head on his shoulder.  
“I found your letter,” she said quietly, and Percy sighed. He wasn’t surprised, really. After all, he had written it in case he died, and he _had_ died. He had meant it in a more permanent sense, but it was fair that Vex had discovered it. “While I was going through your pockets,” she added, “for Whitestone glass to bring you back.”  
“I used that for you, when you…” he didn’t finish the thought, but felt her nod.  
“I know.”  
A pause.  
“What did you think of it? My letter.”  
She was quiet, before sitting up and pulling it out of her pocket. “I haven’t read it. Seems rude now that you’re… back.”  
She handed it back to him. The Whitstone crest he had sealed it with was still in one piece, so she wasn’t lying. He smiled.  
He opened his mouth to thank her when they were interrupted by a crash in front of them. Vax and Pike were surrounded by broken glass, with Grog laughing madly and Pike apologizing for something that was definitely not her fault.  
Percy sighed and stretched his arms out, wincing at the slight pull from the fresh scars.  
“I don't know about you,” he raised his voice enough for the others to hear, “but I'm feeling dead tired,” he said with a slight grin.  
Scanlan groaned and Pike just glared, but they all began to make their way towards Percy and Vex. Vax kicked a tray under a table sheepishly, not making eye contact with the annoyed looked barkeep.  
“That was terrible,” Scanlan leaned against a support beam, “but I _am_ proud of you for it,”  
“Thank you, that's all I've ever aimed for,” Percy deadpanned.  
The inn they were in had quietened down through the night, and they were beginning to realise how late it was getting.  
“You should probably get some rest, Percy,” Pike said, resting a hand on his shoulder, “We all should,”  
Grog picked her up, sitting her on his shoulder like always, and kneeled down for Scanlan to climb up to his other one.  
“You have a point there,” Percy agreed, standing up. Everyone else began to realise their own exhaustion, mostly from the stress of the last few days.

They made their way to Whitestone castle as a group, talking about anything except Ripley and Percy's resurrection.  
When they stepped inside the castle and made to go up the stairs to their rooms, Vax paused.  
“Hey,” he began quietly, “Percival, does Whitestone have a… I don't know, a big lounge room or something?”  
Percy frowned, confused. “Yes, somewhere around here. Why?”  
Vex realised what her brother was talking about and smiled. “We… in the mansion, before we could come back here,” she said, very purposefully avoiding saying why they had to return, “we all slept together,”  
Percy raised an eyebrow cheekily.  
“Not like that, perv,” she blushed slightly, “just, in a blanket fort. So that no one had to be alone.”  
Pike smiled. “Well I think that sounds like a very nice idea,” she said, looking to Percy, as they were the only two that hadn't been involved the first time.  
Percy scanned the faces of his friends - they all looked, like Vex said, like they didn’t want to be alone.  
“Get blankets and pillows, then meet me in the third room on the left,” he instructed with a grin, and Keyleth immediately ran to get blankets. Grog quickly followed her with the gnomes, and Vex pressed a kiss to his cheek before hurrying after them. Vax held out an arm, letting Percy lean on him, and the two men followed their friends.

There was a small group of maids talking in the lounge room when Vox Machina entered, but, seeing the determined look on the adventurers’ faces, they quickly left. They didn’t ask why they were transporting piles of bedding to the room. Whitestone staff had long since learned it was easier not to ask questions.  
Keyleth was first into the room, clearing out the maids as she cheerily entered with a pile of fluffy blankets that all but obscured her view. Vex was right behind her, arms full of far too many fancy pillows to have just been in her room. A few minutes later brought Grog with a goliath sized blanket, both gnomes hanging off his shoulders while grasping cushions. By the time Vax and Percy brought their modest blanket offering, Keyleth was busy lighting the fireplace to warm the room while Vex and Pike spread the blankets across the floor. Scanlan was strumming softly on his lute while leaning on Trinket, and Grog was emptying his jug of ale.  
Once Keyleth lit the fire, Trinket stood up with a huff, letting Scanlan fall awkwardly to the floor, and repositioned himself on top of Keyleth’s green blanket, close to the warmth. With a smile, Percy leaned against the bear’s front legs, not bothering to take off his boots or glasses. Quietly, everyone began to lie down on the pile of pillows and blankets. The fire warmed the room enough that they didn’t need any on top of what they already brought, thankfully.  
Pike curled herself beside Percy, pressing her back to his hip. Grog quickly lay face down next to her, with an arm leaning protectively over her, and Percy’s leg. Scanlan wormed his way under Grog’s other arm, as Keyleth shifted into Minxy form with a purr. Vax found a spot beside Scanlan, laying one leg over Grog’s back. Minxy curled over Grog’s feet, pushing Vax with her nose till he put his other leg on her shoulders. Vex pressed herself into the other side of Percy, her back on Trinket’s hind legs and her head on his shoulder.  
She could feel the faint scar of his Slayer’s Take tattoo through his shirt. As everyone’s breathing began to grow steady, she slowly moved her arm, until it was pressing gently against Percy’s chest, feeling for the steady beat of his heart.  
“Don’t leave me again?” she asked, not even sure if he was still awake to hear it.  
When he was silent for a moment, she thought he was asleep, until his hand met hers on his chest, giving it a gentle, comforting squeeze.  
She fell asleep dreaming of the feeling of his stubble against her lips.

While the cuddle pile was a sweet and warm idea at night, in the morning it left them feeling slightly stiff.  
At some point during the night Scanlan had shifted until his legs were on Vax’s chest, and the way they had all piled on top of and under each other meant no one woke without a crook in their back. Still, there was something about all of them being close together - and _alive_ \- that meant none of them wanted to get up.  
Light was streaming in through the window behind them, and the fire had long since gone out, and even as they began to open their eyes and feel the results of their awkward positioning they only shifted closer. It wasn’t often that they got such quiet, calm moments; they wanted to make the most of it.  
Vax was the first one to break the soft silence. “I’m glad you’re back, Percy,” he murmured, just loud enough to be heard.  
“Glad to be back,” Percy replied, not opening his eyes. He could feel Vex’s warm breath on his chest, and Grog’s hand on his knee, and Pike’s back against his side. Even Minxy’s tail was gently flicking his leg. “Really,” he added, looking around blearily. His glasses had fallen off at some point. “Thank you for… for convincing my soul to come back.” He rubbed Vex’s hand with his thumb. “I don’t know what you did, but it worked.”  
Vax hummed in response, and the room was quiet again.  
After a few moments, Percy’s free hand was joined by another, much smaller one, and he looked down to see a blurry Pike holding his hand and smiling at him.  
She didn’t need to speak for him to know what she meant. Vox Machina were a family. They would always be there for each other, and never let go without a fight.  
He squeezed her hand, and let himself drift back into a warm sleep, albeit less comfortable than before.

Later, much later, Vox Machina would look on that night as the first time all of them slept in one room, and realise that, as much as Vex’s flirting, and Scanlan’s jokes may have initiated their relationship, that night was really the beginning. The night they all needed each other, and they all stayed close, and for just a moment in such terrible series of events over the course of those months, everything was alright. For one night, they were safe, and warm, and together. For one night, their fears and awkwardness didn’t matter, and they were not seven different people. For that night (and thanks to that first time, many future nights once Exandria was safe) they were simply Vox Machina - together.  
As they tell everyone, it’s a polyamory thing. 


End file.
